Califur VII Review

For once, I took a whole bunch of notes on my Ipod while at Califur this year. However, I'll be saving those notes for my Gonzo-esque memoirs, which I'm aiming to publish through Rabbit Valley during Q3 of 2012.

So, I'll give you the abridged version of my weekend of Fur and Yiffing in Irvine: A Savage Journey through the Heart of a Southern California Convention (Version 2.0)

June 3, 2011

Woke up at 5 am on Friday morning to drive from home, just south of Chula Vista, to pick up :iconBrown_Wolf: in Vista, and then straight on the 5, and switching up to the 405 and off at MacArthur Blvd. Arrived at the Irvine Marriot without incident. After seeing that the registration line was going to take a while, due to the constant running hilarious theme that CF registration was facing technical difficulties, I decided it was best to just check-in and move everything into my room while waiting for the system to go back on-line.

As it turned out, it was a new server (which was an unnecessary upgrade to start with), and none of the printer drivers had actually been transferred over from the last server. I've been seeing this happen since 2008. I think it's safe to say that this would be one issue that'll face the Duke Nukem Forever treatment - put off resolving it for as long as possible, and hope people will forget it was ever a problem to begin with. We all know how well that worked for DN:F. (Little hint: It didn't) And to actually contrast this buggering SNAFU to other, better cons that I've attended is totally unfair to the other cons I've attended. So, I'll spare us all the drama and waterworks, because I'm tired of complaining about an issue I could very well avoid from now on. That, plus it would've been nice that I had to ask registration WHY I hadn't gotten my AUP in the e-mail yet, when I probably could've checked the correct box while registering.

Hooray for asking ahead of time.

Seeing as how this would be the last con in which I would be taking photographs with my Canon Rebel XTi, I tried to fill up the entirety of my 8 GB memory card. Even shooting in Raw (and eventually in Raw +Large), I still couldn't fill up more than half of it. I still have a good ways to go before filling up the card, and perhaps also a 2 GB card that a fellow fur named Charizard had given to me.

The Ice Cream Social was okay. Probably wrecked my diet, but meh. Also, I'd met a fursuiter I hadn't seen in quite some time. Remarked that he was amazed that in the time since we'd last met, I'd lost a considerable amount of weight. I said it was simply because I cut out HFCS. It was a bit encouraging to hear that.

June 4, 2011

It turns out that, if there's any noise loud enough, I really am a light sleeper. Yep. But it didn't really bother me. I just sat there and enjoyed my breakfast (actual food from Albertson's, and not some cheap gas station food, either.

The tension regarding registration's foreseeable trouble's from the previous day seemed to have died down quite a bit. Which was a good thing. It was also good that people were allowed to attend the Dealer's Den and certain panels while registration was trying to get back up. Incidentally, the Meet the GoH's/Opening Ceremonies started a bit late (by 15 minutes) and didn't seem all that satisfying. It seemed a bit short, and it would have been nice to learn what the con charity was for that year, and how to donate to it.

I was also tasked with taking the official Made Fur You photo. Took it at about 2:00 - 2:05. A few suiters showed up, which was better than no suiters at all. It was entertaining seeing one of the suiters dressed up as a princess and holding a piece of cake. Also, the fursuit parade was soon after, which I attended and took both video and photos of it, which was a first for me. I should have done that starting with my first convention.

I dressed up as Brandy I believe on Saturday. I suited up, walked around a while, and found out on Monday that I have TWO pictures of me on the KROQ website.

Went to FNL, took some video of it. It was pretty good. It was far better than the Cabaret show, which I feel is just an excuse for 150 horny men, and a few horny women, to sit together uncomfortable close in private hotel and watch men and women dance and sway oddly to bad music, and toss money onto the stage for the sake of charity. It has yet to dawn on the heads of con that they don't need to flash naked people in front of me to donate to charity, whatever it was. A simple donation jar at the con store table in the dealer's den will suffice. There was a jar for a sick, uninsured writer, sure, but not for the official charity. And believe me, I would donate if'n I were to have been simply asked.

But that's how simple my point of view is.

Speaking of viewing the world in weird and bizarre ways, there is but one policy that I call shenanigans on. The 'No photography/videography' policy of the Cabaret. Sure, I get that whole having to protect the privacy of the performers. I don't get, however, the whole policy of actually videotaping the event. Sure, I might believe that they might be giving a copy of the show to everyone that performed. But I couldn't help but notice that there were actual camera operators taking video of the audience. And not just from the back, or from the corner in a discreet fashion. I'm talking about actually walking out in front of the audience while pointing the camera at everyone in the front rows of the audience. I'm sure there must be a good reason as to why the convention is taking B-roll footage of an event for a video that'll get produced but will never see the light of day beyond just sitting on the editor's hard drive.

And, for some reason which I'll never explain in public, I may or may not have seen things that remind me of certain television shows. That may or may not be set in Las Vegas. And another that may or may not star Kevin Connolly and Jeremy Piven. But, as I said, you'd have to talk to me in person, or at least in a direct message, what that particular thing that may or may not have happened as to what it may or may not have been.

Remember, you did not hear that last thing, which did not happen behind closed doors.

June 5, 2011

Sunday was somewhat eventful, but for sake of time and space, I'm not going to get into the gritty details. Abridged version - checked out at noon, at at Wahoo's Fish Tacos at 12:30 pm, and ate at Red Robin at 9:42 pm.

There was fursuit photography on Friday and Saturday only.

Would like to have seen more stumping for donating to the con's charity for this year, but I don't think I saw too much of that. There might have been some of that during the Cabaret, but it wasn't really explicitly stated at the beginning of the Cabaret, or even during the con in general. That may have also been the point of the Pet Auction, but as I said before, it would have been most efficient to, in addition to the Pet Auction and the Cabaret, to have a donation jar in the Dealer's Den. I say this because a lot of people would not have had a chance to successfully bid in the auction, or managed to attend the Cabaret for various reasons, known about either, or even attend either of those at all during the weekend. But that's just my idea.

-----

If'n I decide to attend Califur next year, I might consider attending as a dealer. Dealer, in the sense that it's definitely possible, considering that I could very well sell my services as a photographer, and perhaps sell fursuit portrait prints. There's no legitimate reason as to why I can't do something like that. Other than that, I see no reason to go next year to Califur, or any more cons than I can afford to attend next year. I'll be fortunate to be able to get to both Rain Furrest and Antheria this year, given all the things I have to deal with right now.

That's about it. If I missed anything, or l left out, it'll eventually be brought up in my end of year review.